The CHRB released the names of two more victims in California in 2024: Contrary Gig died at Pleasanton Monday. He was two and had been raced twice (Oct 6, Nov 17), finishing last both times, a combined 49.5 lengths back. The complicit, among others: Larry Odbert and Neil Koch. Same day at Santa Anita, Alvarez died of “musculoskeletal” causes. At the time of his death, the Board notes, Alvarez was working as a “pony,” which, as we all know, is its own but equally pernicious kind of servitude.
Currently, the Cal ’24 Death Toll stands at 108 – the highest since 2019. “Commitment to welfare” is a ruse, “safe racing” a lie. Horseracing is inherently cruel and inevitably deadly. This website has proved that every day for the past 11 years.
You’re right, Nancy. If CBS NEWS was willing to report on the bloodthirsty so-called “Sport of Kings”, they could definitely report on the carnage of Thoroughbreds used and abused worldwide. I wish they would but I won’t hold my breath.
They could absolutely “shine a light on the equine industry” by showing the horses not only being exploited in the daily routine way, but also what happens to so many horses when they are not viable for racing. They could show the horses being dumped and in kill pens. They could show the heinously cruel way horses are treated when they are being loaded into a truck or trailer. They could show how horses have to be hauled for so many miles without food and water and how many hours the horses are crammed together in a sealed truck or trailer. It doesn’t stop there and more people ought to know.
It would be something if the people at CBS and the other stations would stop glorifying horse racing.
Wanda, lest we forget the horses that pass during flat and hurdle races in Europe and Asia. Those add to the numbers that abound along with ours.
CBS NEWS ought to be reporting on the high number of horses killed in California again as they did in 2019.
It would shock a lot of people to know that so many horses are being killed on a regular basis not only in California but New York, Kentucky, Florida, Maryland, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and several more states.